In Post-Marcos Philippines, Corruption Still a Way of Life

Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Roman Catholic Primate, sometimes says that Ali Baba - Ferdinand E. Marcos - has fled the Philippines, but that the 40 thieves have been left behind.

Although Mr. Marcos's successor as President, Corazon C. Aquino, has maintained a reputation for personal integrity, corruption remains a major ill of the nation, and she is coming under increasing pressure to act.

Institutionalized graft at the top levels of Government has, by all accounts, been reduced since Mr. Marcos left the country in February 1986. But as some Filipinos put it, the looting has been democratized, with petty officials often demanding larger sums in the current, less centralized atmosphere. One recent estimate said about a third of the nation's budget is lost to corruption and inefficiency each year. Called a Way of Life

An ally of Mrs. Aquino, Senator Rene Saguisag, noted that corruption is an age-old way of life in the Philippines that is not likely to be eased within this generation.

In recent weeks, the political opposition has made corruption a primary issue, one that is hurting the President's reputation. Mrs. Aquino's allies, including Cardinal Sin, have joined in the demands that she take stronger action.

The most publicized charges of inefficiency and corruption have been against the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is trying to recover assets and funds allegedly stolen by Mr. Marcos. Some of the Revelations

Among other revelations, it has been reported that 14 airplanes and thousands of head of imported cattle seized by the commission cannot be accounted for, and commission members have been criticized for irregularities.

The chairman, Ramon Diaz, resigned last month after a dispute with Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, who accused the commission of ''ineptness, incompetence and corruption.''

In August, a month before he died, Joaquin Roces, a newspaper publisher and an early Aquino supporter, startled her at a public gathering by charging that her administration had come to be characterized by ''self-aggrandizement and service to vested interests, relatives and friends.''

He said that the President had fallen short of her promise to bring a higher tone to Philippine society and that the nation now needs ''a new moral order led by you, Cory.''

Last week, the President appeared to respond to such criticism by instructing Government officials not to grant requests for concessions or privileges from any of her relatives, whether ''real, pretended or imaginary.''

Among the President's relatives, the most recent furor involved a brother-in-law, Ricardo Lopa, known by his nickname as Baby. Mr. Lopa, a prominent businessman, is accused of cashing in on Mr. Marcos's sequestered assets. Acquisition of Companies

Six days after the former President fled the country, Mr. Lopa spent just $250,000 to buy a controlling interest in 36 companies belonging to Mr. Marcos's brother-in-law, Benjamin Romualdez. Mr. Lopa defended his action by saying that the Marcos family had seized the companies from him after Mr. Marcos came to power 20 years earlier.

Though his accusation appears to have some validity, other people with similar claims who are not relatives of the President are still waiting for legal procedures to be completed.

In response to specific accusations, Mrs. Aquino has for the most part disappointed her supporters by demanding proof, much as Mr. Marcos did. Proof is something that her predecessor's critics discovered was nearly impossible to obtain.

Filipinos take for granted that payoffs and personal influence are parts of their lives in a society that is structured less around laws and institutions than friendships and family ties. Payments Are Normal

It was only the scale and blatancy of Mr. Marcos's actions that shocked his countrymen. Nepotism is normal in the Philippines, as are payments to policemen, tax collectors, customs agents, school administrators, judges and Government officials at all levels.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently estimated that 50 billion pesos, about $2.5 billion, or one-third of the nation's budget, is lost to corruption and inefficiency.

''Imagine if all the money budgeted for roads were actually spent for roads - how the economy would improve,'' Bishop Francisco F. Claver said recently.

At the top level of Government, Mrs. Aquino has brought change. Her achievements include the example of her own integrity and her selection of a new Cabinet of technocrats who are viewed as honest. Waging a Bruising Campaign

Her appointees in traditionally corrupt agencies such as the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue are waging a bruising, and sometimes losing, campaign against graft.

Philippine analysts say accusations of corruption have been the stock in trade of the opposition of the day, men who are out of power and unable to share in the spoils of office.

The allegations against Mr. Lopa were only the latest involving the President's family. Most of them have been raised by the President's most strident political opponent, Juan Ponce Enrile, whom she dismissed as Defense Minister in 1986, and his allies.

Earlier allegations have involved her brother, Jose Cojuangco Jr., who has exerted control in Manila's lucrative port concessions and gaming commission, areas that had been the fiefdom of Mr. Romualdez. Control of a Manila Casino

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Mr. Cojuangco's wife, Margarita, has also come under continuing accusations of cornering for herself the import barter-trade concessions of the southern city of Zamboanga.

In addition, she was the subject earlier this year of a scandal involving accusations by an Australian businessmen of a payoff for control of a Manila casino. She responded that the businessman had been tricked by a look-alike who shared her Spanish features, swept-back hair and taste for heavy jewelry.

But family influence does not characterize the Aquino administration to the extent it did that of Mr. Marcos.

Whereas Mr. Marcos centralized the control of influence and embezzlement among his family and a small circle of associates, Mrs. Aquino has allowed corruption to flourish by failing to exert strong leadership.

There have been no successful prosecutions in major corruption cases. Political Will Questioned

In a study published in August, Ledivina Carino, a professor of public administration at the University of the Philippines, said the Aquino administration had been guilty of a lack of political will and a failure to enforce regulations.

The study found a tendency to avoid confronting the issue and instead to blame the Marcos period for the continuing irregularities.

But an accumulation of reports indicate that a vigorous culture of corruption continues, as it has for many years.

In August, Maj. Gen. Cesar Tapia, appointed by the President to clean up corruption at Manila's international airport, resigned as the airport's security chief, saying he was powerless to root out institutionalized graft.

Describing the situation at the airport, a former Government employee said: ''Every policeman, every customs agent, every immigration officer, every travel agent, every door guard is there to make money. Their official salary is only incidental.'' Tales of Corruption

At a hearing Aug. 29, Salvador Mison, another retired general appointed by the President to oversee the customs bureau, estimated that 100,000 of the 1.3 million vehicles registered with the Department of Land Transportation this year were assembled from smuggled knockdown cars and trucks.

Newspaper reporters assigned to the airport are described by their colleagues as sometimes acting as middlemen for customs agents in payoff scams.

Other recent tales of corruption range from the Philippine Basketball Association, where coaches and players are said to be involved in widespread game fixing, to a group of 175 military trainees who said they were dismissed to make room for recruits who had bought places at an academy.

According to newspaper reports, syndicates of cyanide importers and distributors have paid officials in the Bureau of Fisheries to allow illegal fishing with the use of cyanide to continue.

Garment and textile export quotas, according to the reports, can be bought, as can an injunction from the National Labor Relations Commission to halt a strike. Bribing of Judges

In the courts, according to reporters who work there, ''due process'' often means bribing clerks, sheriffs and judges to dismiss or reduce charges, to issue restraining orders or in some cases to manipulate verdicts.

In the schools, according to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, 7 out of 10 superintendents sell jobs, mainly to substitute teachers, and 6 out of 10 state college and university presidents have taken kickbacks from contractors for projects involving essential facilities.

Students say school admissions and sometimes course grades can be purchased.

At many Government agencies, ''fixers'' are an essential feature, collecting fees to expedite the issuance of passports or drivers' licenses, birth or marriage certificates, or the paperwork needed to start a business.

Perhaps the symbol of petty corruption is the policeman on the beat, who collects ''tong'' payments to allow buses to ply their routes or engages in ''hulidap,'' the practice of making a spurious arrest designed to extort a payoff.

A recent study of police corruption conducted by the National Police Commission confirmed that poorly paid officers are widely involved in protecting sidewalk peddlers, drug dealers, houses of prostitution and gambling.

The commission's chairman, Cicero C. Campos, said the crooked policeman is only the most visible link in a chain of corruption that reaches into the upper echelons of the force.

But it is at this lower level that corruption affects daily life in a wide variety of ways throughout the Philippines.

In one small example, Manila city officials who have investigated the persistent traffic tie-ups at the corner of Santa Elena and Binondo streets say they are caused by policemen who, for a one-peso fee, allow drivers to take an illegal shortcut down a one-way street.

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A version of this article appears in print on October 17, 1988, on Page A00001 of the National edition with the headline: In Post-Marcos Philippines, Corruption Still a Way of Life. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe